Monday, March 13, 2006

The Library of Alexandria

I think the Library of Alexandria deserves a place among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, although if it were counted among them there would be eight instead of seven and seven wonders sounds better then eight wonders don't you think? Anyway, the Library of Alexandria must have been an incredible place to visit. There were amassed there many scrolls of the works of famous men. But tragically the Library was burnt - how is widely disputed.There many scholars studied, Eratosthenes, Archimedes, Euclid et. alii.

Eratosthenes was a Greek who, after studying in Athens, came to the Library and in time became the head librarian. Eventually after much hard work he was the first person to calculate the distance around the Earth.

Archimedes was one of the most famous mathematicians of the ancient world. He invented the Archimedes Screw and effectively defended Syracuse from the Romans for many years with other samples of his creative mind.

Euclid was another widely known mathematician of ancient times. He is perhaps most famous for his book The Elements.

There is much more to know about the Library and you can start your explorations with this short article.